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Whiskey

Though well-known as a wine connoisseur, Thomas Jefferson refrained from the consumption of more potent beverages. "The ardent wines I cannot drink," he wrote to Doctor Vine Utley in 1819, "nor do I use ardent spirits in any form."1 The following entries from Jefferson’s memorandum books, however, indicate that purchases of whiskey were regularly made for workmen and for "the plantation."